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Charlie Sheen changed his politics by changing the channel
About six years ago, I started a simple experiment. Each evening, instead of relying on a single news source, I watched both sides of the political spectrum — MSNBC and CNN on the left, Fox on the right. The goal was not balance for its own sake. It was triangulation: getting closer to the truth than any one outlet seemed capable of providing.The pattern emerged quickly. The full story almost never lives on a single channel. It lives in the gaps — in what one side omits, what the other exaggerates, and what only becomes visible when competing narratives collide. Stepping outside a single media ecosystem sharpened my understanding of events and exposed how much emotional steering hides behind what passes for “objective” news.If a Hollywood actor immersed for decades in elite cultural assumptions can break free simply by pressing 'channel up,' that should give the rest of us pause.I was reminded of this after reading Megyn Kelly’s interview with actor Charlie Sheen.Pick up the remoteFor years, Sheen embodied Hollywood’s loud, theatrical hostility toward Donald Trump. He embodied Trump derangement syndrome. Then he startled people by admitting that he had begun to change his views. Not because of a grand ideological awakening, but because of something mundane."I'm going to change the channel," he told Kelly. "I'm gonna do my own research, like I've done with everything my entire life. I'm gonna listen to other voices. I'm gonna explore just hearing both sides of the g**d**n story."Sheen described realizing that he had been “hypnotized” — his word — by the media he trusted. What once felt authoritative and neutral began to look curated, repetitive, and manipulative.“What I was so hypnotized by,” he said, “in some ways can be described as state-run media. ... Legacy media is very much like that.”How narrative replaces reportingThat charge matters, because it is not rooted in party loyalty. It is rooted in recognition. More Americans sense that the information they consume does not simply inform them — it conditions them. It trains emotional responses, assigns villains, and narrows acceptable conclusions.As Sheen flipped channels, he discovered how incomplete his worldview had been. Then came his most striking admission: “I felt really stupid. I don't have a fancier way to describe it. ... Some of the stuff I’d bought into … some of the people I was hating because I was told I was supposed to hate them.”That kind of honesty is rare. In today’s culture, changing one’s mind is treated as treason rather than growth. Sheen’s shift is not primarily about moving from left to right. It is about reclaiming agency — refusing to let a single narrative dictate who deserves trust or contempt.For years, Americans have been sorted into hardened political tribes by outlets that no longer report so much as reinforce. Each network offers a prepackaged worldview with designated heroes, enemies, and emotional cues. The longer someone consumes only one of them, the more certain — and less informed — he becomes.This is how democracies fracture. Not because citizens lack reason, but because they are denied the full range of facts required to reason well.Regret isn’t the pointSheen even expressed regret over his 2024 vote for Kamala Harris, a decision he now believes was made inside an echo chamber he did not recognize at the time. The regret itself is not the point. The awakening is.RELATED: Netflix wants a monopoly on your mind Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesIf a Hollywood actor immersed for decades in elite cultural assumptions can break free simply by pressing “channel up,” that should give the rest of us pause.It suggests intellectual independence remains possible. It suggests curiosity can overpower conditioning. And it suggests Americans are far more capable of balanced judgment than our media landscape assumes.The most patriotic habit leftThe lesson is not complicated. If you want to understand what is really happening in this country, do not limit yourself to the channel you already agree with. Change it. Listen to the other side. Sit with the discomfort.The clarity that follows may surprise you. It may challenge your assumptions. It may even change your mind.In today’s America, that may be one of the most constructive — and patriotic — acts left to us.
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